Hi All--Kaybear here! Just a warning to our friends who love their Airstreams like we love our Ani! We just arrived (whew) back in Laughin (high 70's today, Thank you!) and wanted to let you all know about a potential problem you can prevent! Wish we'd known but now all of you will know before IT HAPPENS TO YOU!

We had the unfortunate occurrence of our 1975 Overlander's door flying open while towing her down the road at 65 mph! Yes, you read right. We were towing along happily when "KABOOM" the door flew open. And it was deadbolted. However, after tearfully surveying the damage, we discovered that there was no striker plate to hold the deadbolt. The regular door lock (original lock in handle) was never locked by us because when we bought Ani the two keys that fit that lock were bent/torqued so we just never risked locking the door and then not being able to unlock it. The factory installed deadbolt seemed secure enough. However, it wasn't. The lack of a striker plate (which I never even thought to look for in the first place) caused the door to pull against the closed bolt. The skin on the inside of the door finally gave way and curved inward enough to let the bolt fly out! So, what we found when we stopped (after only 1 mile with the door open--I was driving behind Jean who was towing Ani when I saw the door spring open) was a door that should be curved inward that was now curving out about 6 inches at both top and bottom when the door lock was engaged. NOT PRETTY!!!! An angel man appeared who knew how to help us get a sort-of fix. He had Jean get inside the Airstream and hold a 2x2 piece of wood at about the lock location and he pushed with all his might from the outside on first the top and then the bottom of the door to bend it back in toward the Airstream. Well, now the door reaches the lock and we can only squeeze a piece of bread through the top and bottom of the door, where before this "fix" we could have pushed a whole loaf through top and bottom! Gawd, I cried! But, we're safe and we all know STUFF HAPPENS. Now, what I found out from another phone angel, is that some Airstreamers force a wood wedge between the Airstream body, through the pull-up handle beside the door and across the door/body opening. In other words, putting a piece of wood to hold the door closed. Of course, this is for traveling/towing only. Just thought I'd pass this along so no one has to cry like I did! We're thinking we can put a big cargo strap up and around the whole door and crank if from inside like a tourniquet to complete the inward rounding needed to try to get the door tighter. Thank goodness we're were it's warm and that a little ventilation is OK! Guess we won't have to worry too much now when we run our catalytic heater!!! Anyone else have any ideas. Well, that's it for now from kaybear. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Kay and Jean
'75 Overlander '27'